


Theory

by thegreatwordologist



Series: I Know Other 'Verses [1]
Category: Cabin Pressure
Genre: Gen, Just a Prologue, Multiple Universes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-04
Updated: 2017-08-04
Packaged: 2018-12-10 20:48:10
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 916
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11699634
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thegreatwordologist/pseuds/thegreatwordologist
Summary: Some scientists believe that the term 'universe' isn't actually correct.





	Theory

**Author's Note:**

> This story is basically a prologue and set-up to the series it's part of. I'm not sure yet how the stories within the series will intersect, or if they even will. Most of the stories in the series are likely to be one-shots or stand-alones. There's not much to it just yet, but I look forward to exploring more.

Some scientists believe that the term 'universe' isn't actually correct. Evidence shows, so they claim, a multitude of universes all co-existing within the span of all that is, each arranged so that the spaces in one universe are not the spaces of another, and it is not choice that frames the multiverse they argue for. It is difference.

Indeed, one science journal, dedicated to a layman's understanding, compared the theory to a child's "Spot the Difference" puzzle. The journal goes on to note that there is more space in between the electrons of an atom than space taken up by them, and notes that all it would take is an infinitesimal shift to the side for a new universe to be layered over, as though the sum of existence is some grand collage.

And like a collage, there are places where the universes touch. Of course there are, according to the journal, because despite there being enough space in existence for every possible difference conceived, space is finite, all the same. Layers have to overlap, just a little.

Most of the readers of the science journal peruse the article and chuckle. Some get excited about it. But four readers do a little more. 

\---

The first is a woman who's stuck in the waiting room at the local insurance broker's firm, who is waiting for final word on her paperwork. She's just filed for insurance on a Lockheed McDonnel 3-12, and her patience is worn rather thin. But the words hold her attention, and when the secretary steps out of the offices with a large brown envelope for her, she tucks the magazine under her arm. She doesn't care that it has the name of the business on the front. The journal is already a year old, and they can certainly afford to replace it, based on the ridiculous fee they charged her to process the registration.

She brushes off the congratulations and keeps the journal.

\---

The second is a recently-divorced captain at Air England. He finds the journal in the pilot's lounge, and decides to flick through it because it's down to that or finding the bar. He's been on the wagon for just over a year now, which renders the bar not an option, so he gives in with only a token sigh of resentment, reading each article in turn with more focus than they really deserve. It's the only way he can forestall the need to do something else with his hands. 

Most of the articles mean next to nothing to him. There are some about space he finds vaguely interesting, in much the way he might occasionally think about them and dismiss them, or bring them up in pub quizzes, were he ever to participate in another. But one article holds him rapt, and makes him think about tiny hands and trusting eyes, and a bell-clear voice crying because he was vicious in his drunkenness.

He tears the article from the journal neatly and folds it, tucking it into his flight bag. When he steps into his dark house three days later, and reminds himself that of course he didn't expect there to be lights or laughter, he pulls out the article and files it away in his office. 

\---

The third is a younger man whose eyes almost seem bruised by his lack of sleep. He's ginger and lanky, with equal and opposite measures of wiry power and ungainly anxiety. He can't quite remember where he found the magazine. (In fact, he found it tossed aside on a seat on the bus, with the address-sticker peeled off and scribbling all over the first three pages.) But the article makes his heart beat a little faster in hope, and he's careful as he brings the journal back to his flat.

Once there, he takes a knife to it, cleanly cutting the article away from the more ragged journal itself. Packing tape provides a makeshift protective cover, and once the article is ready, he files it away in the cheap cardboard box that serves as his temporary filing cabinet. Only once the article is safely away, to be studied at his leisure, does the man worry about getting himself a bite to eat. Over the food, he does his finances, and decides he can take a couple of days' downtime to really memorize the article before returning to his studies.

\---

The fourth is a young man who finds the article in his mum's kitchen. He stands in front of the table, reading it as he tosses an apple from one hand to the other, until she gets home from the store. When she catches him with magazine and apple, she shoos him out so that she can make them dinner. He is not to eat the apple and spoil his appetite. He should, she informs him, just go _read_ and let her finish dinner in peace. 

He might've been hurt by her brusque tone, but he knows that she'd gotten a call from his father that morning, and those calls always set her on edge. Also, she looks tired, and a little more worn than she'll ever let on. He's not allowed to comment on that, but he does what he can for her. And what he can do, right then, is to "just go _read_." 

Afterward, the journal goes in the living room bookcase, where they both have access to it. Occasionally, when he goes looking for it, it's missing. But it's always returned.


End file.
